Buttons And Roses
by Nikki Kirk
Summary: Rachel is having a VERY bad day... that is, until someone with black boxers with pigs on them picks up a pen for her...


*Disclaimer: Well, Hal, I've just been away staying with my cousin in Auckland. So I'm in a reasonable mood... Since I put the Rachel doll through so much last time with her poor knee getting munted, then her chasing that ape of a guy through the Sydney Opera House, and then having to put up with that baby, I decided that she needs a bit of happiness in her life... So here goes, my first romantic fanfic, and it almost killed me... just kidding. Anyway, I'm not responsible for anything you want to nit-pick in here, and if you do I'll sue the pants off you and make you bribe Catherine McClements into coming back on the show as a ghost or Rachel's identical twin sister that had been misplaced at birth... So there :)!!! Wow, Frank doesn't really feature much in this one... I must be sick... Anyway, I'm not affiliated with anyone or anything in this story, so there. Bite me.  
  
Author's note: The worst word in here is 'bugger'. Bugger, I must be sick, no swearing! Oh well, I guess Auckland HAS screwed my neurological pathways up, and the electrical pathways have decided to disappear into my insane part of my brain.... Okay, that's it, I'm going totally loopy. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, so please actually give me feedback somebody!!! I'm begging of you! You can find me, as always, at sydneygirl2b@hotmail.com okay? Yippee! Now, to go find the cause of my insanity.... Coffee, Mountain Dew, and Pepsi! That's what it is! And also having to go back to school on the 1st... Eek!  
  
*****  
Buttons and Roses,   
by Nikki Kirk.  
*****  
  
He leaned forward and pressed the button - again. Rachel Goldstein stood beside him, willing the lights to change so that they could cross the busy street in central Sydney. The man beside her reached out mechanically to press the button for yet another time. Rachel gritted her teeth, then had an idea. She pulled a pen out of her light blue suit's jacket pocket and "accidentally" dropped it. The man bent down to pick it up. Rachel's mood lightened and she forced herself to suppress a giggle as she spotted the guy's underwear - satin boxer shorts that were black with pink pigs and hearts on them.  
  
*****  
  
The man straightened up, held out her pen, and grinned an ear-to-ear toothy smile.  
"BZZZZZZ!!!" The buzzer went off, and the green man lit up on the lamppost. Rachel grinned quickly and took the pen, then sped off as fast as her long legs could carry her back down the street towards the waterfront, and the Sydney Water Police Headquarters, where she worked as a senior Detective. Passing high-rise after high-rise, Rachel gritted her teeth tightly, her blue eyes seemingly shooting out daggers of electricity at anyone who looked at her for more than a passing glance.  
  
*****  
  
That morning, Rachel had woken up with a splitting headache from a hangover. She'd been to Cutters Bar with Frank last night to do their traditional post-case booze up. She'd stumbled out of her nice warm bed to find a cold, wet and windy Thursday morning. Holding her head she stumbled out of her room towards the kitchen. She had forgot that she'd put a small bar heater in the bathroom a few doors down the hallway. "OW! BUGGER!" Rachel had roared, tripping over the black cord and falling flat on her face.  
She had picked herself up, rubbing her hip, which had taken the full impact of her fall, and continued into the kitchen. The bright red walls had seemed to bore into her scull as she noticed her black pair of high heels sitting on the kitchen bench. She couldn't be bothered trying to work out the drunken logic behind why she'd put them there last night, so she looked at the lock to find out the time. "OH BUGGER!!!".  
  
*****  
  
Rachel had ended up flying out of the door trying to comb the knots out of her stylish bob hair cut drastically late for work, wondering how much stick she'd get from Frank who would be there by now, even if he was having one of his latest days yet. Her day had just got worse and worse...  
  
*****  
  
Rachel hurried along the waterfront towards the ferry that would take her to Goat Island, where the headquarters were located, feeling the hot sun which had just made its appearance burning down on her dark brown hair. "Rachel? Rachel Freidman?" came a familiar, overly annoying voice.   
Rachel hurried on, ignoring the high-pitched calls hoping they'd disappear like the sun did at that moment behind a mass of black cloud. The woman's footsteps were hurrying towards her. "Rachel!" Cynthia exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face her.  
"Yeah, Cynthia." Rachel grunted, her eyes darkening into an angry grey colour to match the clouds as she saw the woman who once was the source of her hell in High School.  
Okay, this would have to be the worst day she had ever had, apart from the day she almost died from the stabbing of course, but it was comparable!   
"I haven't seen you since High School!" Cynthia carried on, regardless of the acidic look she'd just received.  
"Thankfully." Rachel muttered under her breath.  
"What was that?" Cynthia inquired, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder to make it rest on the back of her cheap bright pink suit.  
"Nothing. So, how come you're here in Sydney? I thought you'd moved to Auckland?" Rachel asked, wishing she'd disappear back over the Tasman, before she tried to strangle the woman who had tormented her, and stolen every friend she'd had before she'd gone to the Royal Australian Police College, in Melbourne.  
"Yeah, I'm here for a business conference." Cynthia tossed her hair again, making Rachel smile by looking like a bimbo straight off Manly Beach.  
"Lovely." Rachel forced a polite smile, which turned out more like a squint onto her face.  
"So, Freidman, how's life treating you?" Cynthia burbled, once again tossing her hair over her shoulder.  
"No longer Freidman, Cynthia, Goldstein, and I divorced him several years ago. My name is now Senior Detective Constable Rachel Goldstein." Rachel hissed through her teeth, waiting for the ex-shoplifter's reaction.  
"Oh, really? Sorry to hear that. Say," Cynthia looked at her watch quickly, "I'd better be off! People to see, money to make!" Cynthia giggled as if life were one large joke, then hurried off as if she thought Rachel was about to arrest her.  
"Yes..." Rachel said to no one in particular, relief flooding over her strained face, "you probably should...".  
  
*****  
  
Rachel opened the door of her and Frank's shared office, and gaped in astonishment at the massive bunch of red roses, a large white teddy bear, and a big box of expensive-looking chocolates sitting romantically on her desk on top of her case files. She walked over to them, ignoring the sneaky looks Frank was flinging at her, and looked at the white tag with gold writing on it.   
  
  
To the lady having the bad day,  
Sorry I annoyed you.   
From the man pushing the button(aka Paul Michaels.).  
  
PS: My phone number is 6345 1353. Please call me, and I'll take you out for a drink.  
  
  
Rachel gasped, bewildered, and pulled the pen out of her suit pocket, the one she'd dropped. "Sydney Water Police Headquarters, Goat Island, Sydney Harbour, NSW 6018."  
Rachel shot Frank a glare to get him back to work, then laughed gently. Maybe her day hadn't been too bad after all...  
  
The End!!! :)  
*****  
*****  
  
And remember... sydneygirl2b@hotmail.com for feedback! Hint hint!  



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